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Sunday, June 15, 2014

Arrow: Damaged

Picking up right from where the last episode left off, Oliver has just been arrested under suspicion of obstruction of justice, aggravated assault, trespassing, vigilantism and murder.

But as it turns out, this was all part of the plan. According to Ollie, he deliberately let himself be caught on camera whipping the green hood out of his duffel bag for the sole purpose of proving that he wasn’t the vigilante by passing a polygraph test and having Diggle impersonate him whilst he was in police custody and surrounded by dozens of witnesses.

Um...okay. I liked that Ollie brought up the fact that people would inevitably notice that his return coincided with The Hood’s first appearance (even though no one actually mentioned it), but deliberately setting up a situation in which he’d be hauled in on suspicion of vigilantism seems a lot more risky than...you know...not.

It also relied on roping in Diggle to put himself on the line, even though he had already quit by the time Ollie was caught on camera.

Are we sure Ollie isn’t just talking out another orifice on this issue? Especially since the police now have a fresh set of his fingerprints and brand new headshots?

This get even dafter when Oliver demands that Laurel be his attorney. Even though her father was the arresting officer. Even though they have a history together. Even though he cheated on her with her sister. Even though it puts her in an incredibly awkward position. Even though he doesn’t actually need a lawyer considering his plan revolves around avoiding a court case entirely by blowing apart the charges with Diggle's help. Dude, just leave her alone.

But it turns out she agrees, which heightens the tension between herself and her father and leads to a kiss between herself and Ollie at his house. Yeah, none of this makes much sense.

A bad idea on so many levels.

Meanwhile, over on Mystery Island, Oliver is captured by the special ops team and introduced to Edward Fyers, who demands to know where his companion is. Ollie opts to keep quiet despite a lengthy torture session with this guy:


As Mycroft said over on Sherlock: “you’re very loyal, very quickly.” I would have been singing like a song-bird, but after a pretty nifty fight scene, the hooded archer manages to come to the rescue and whisk Ollie away.

Finally, the plot thickens with Moira and John Barrowman’s character (I don’t think we have a name for him yet). Up until this point they’ve seemed like colleges, but it’s clear that Moira is very much in Barrowman’s power (describing herself as “the good soldier”) and that he’s willing to sic an assassin on her son. Despite her impassioned speech about the safety of her family, it’s clear that she’s not in control here – otherwise she would just walk away entirely.

Plus, Walter leaves her later that night. It's a bad week for Moira.

Oh, and something about a German arms dealer. He was on the list and Diggle deals with him. That’s all you need to know.

Miscellaneous Observations:

Paul Blackthorne was chowing down on the scenery this week. It was exhausting just watching him.

Stephen Amell’s acting often comes across as a bit wooden, but there’s no denying the difference between pre and post-island Oliver. Not to mention his change in voice and body language when he’s putting on his “spoiled rich boy” persona.

You know what happens a lot on this show? Someone makes a comment and then another character makes a snappy comeback whilst striding through the door, even though there’s little chance that they could have actually heard what was being said.

“The mission comes first.” So says Oliver, but statements like that are usually made so that they can be ignored later on.

Hah, I got Laurel’s fishnets reference! I guess she’s our future Black Canary.  

I can’t say I really understood what point Laurel was trying to make when she confronted Ollie with the results of his polygraph test. Apparently there was a flutter to the question of whether or not he’d been to Iron Heights Prison, even though they’d been there for a field trip in eighth grade. So ... was she saying that he found a way to cheat the test? (I mean, obviously he did, but I’m not sure what “the flutter” was meant to refer to).

Though the real question is – who on earth takes eighth graders to Iron Heights Prison for a fieldtrip?
 

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